Angels fall to Astros, despite O’Hoppe’s 20th homer

HOUSTON – Catcher Logan O’Hoppe joined a relatively rare club for the Angels with his 20th home run, but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep pace with the red-hot bats of the Houston Astros in Saturday’s 10-4 defeat at Minute Maid Park.

Entering Sunday’s series finale, the Angels have lost three straight to open this four-game set, and they’ve lost all six times they’ve played the Astros in nine days. Houston (85-70) leads the AL West by five games with only seven left to play, while the Angels (62-93) remain mired in last place.

For a second consecutive night, an Angels starter couldn’t escape the third inning – and those unfilled innings are taxing the bullpen, as well. One night after Tyler Anderson’s poor performance, 25-year-old left-hander Reid Detmers was even worse, allowing nine hits, three walks, and seven runs (all earned) in two-plus innings. Victor Caratini did the most damage with a three-run home run to Houston’s left-field Crawford Boxes.

“He left too many pitches out over the middle of the plate, and as relentless as that lineup is, you’ve got to make them work for the at-bats,” Manager Ron Washington said. “They had too many easy swings. He was out there competing, but he didn’t get it where he wanted to. And they didn’t miss.”

“When you give up runs, it’s usually about command,” Detmers added. “It’s leaving pitches out over [the plate], and them taking advantage of it. That’s what happened tonight. It comes down to execution.”

Carson Fulmer absorbed three key innings for the bullpen, allowing seven hits but only one run in that span. In all, the Astros finished with 20 hits, giving them 34 in two nights after a similarly strong showing versus Angels’ pitchers on Friday. Sluggers Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker smacked back-to-back homers off Ryan Miller in the seventh, and an eight-run margin led to a position player – Michael Stefanic – logging an inning of mop-up duty in the eighth.

“That lineup is tough,” Washington surmised.

One bright spot came on offense in the form of O’Hoppe, whose fourth-inning blast made him just the fourth catcher in Angels history with a 20-homer season. He joins Mike Napoli, Lance Parrish, and Earl Averill Jr. in that club, and he ranks third among Major League catchers in 2024, trailing only Seattle’s Cal Raleigh and Oakland’s Shea Langeliers (both with 26).

“It means a lot, for sure,” said O’Hoppe, who had been stuck on 19 since Sept. 6. “I didn’t really set a goal, before the year, of how many I wanted. But being at 19, you can’t help but think about it. It feels good. I wish it came in a win, but I definitely felt some relief.”

After posting an impressive .281 average and .801 OPS entering August, O’Hoppe has slumped considerably since, batting just .114 with a .394 OPS in his previous 38 games before Saturday. Nagging soreness in his right knee likely hasn’t helped.

But fresh off a rest day on Friday, O’Hoppe – who said his knee has felt better in recent days – added a pair of doubles to that homer on a 4-for-4 night.

“It’s nice to know that it’s still in there, going into the end of the year,” he said. “That was something I was thinking about. ‘Is it still in the tank?’ And how much of it is [about] how my body feels. But knowing it’s in there now, it’s good moving forward.”

“He’s very important to our long-term blueprint,” Washington said. “He’s been struggling for quite a while, so he finally found a pitcher tonight to make him feel good about himself. I just hope he carries that through, the rest of the way.”

“He has that potential. His first [full season] through the Major Leagues, we ran through some problems, but he never stopped working. I always told him, there’s always one pitcher that will tow that rubber that will bring you back to life, and tonight it was [Astros starter Ronel] Blanco. Let’s hope for that the rest of the way, he can kick it in and do his thing.”